Two businesses seek liquor to open

Thursday

May 30, 2019 at 4:08 PMMay 30, 2019 at 4:08 PM

GALESBURG — Two new liquor licenses are being pursued for vacancies in the city Monday night, including one former downtown furniture store.

According to Galesburg City Council agenda documents, Elvith Santoyo-McNaught is pursuing a liquor license for a business to be called La Cantinita, 240 E. Simmons St. (the former Carriage House building), as well as an unidentified person seeking a liquor license for The Tap, 2100 Grand Ave. (the former Grand Tap).

When called for comment late Thursday morning, Santoyo-McNaught declined comment, but did say she would talk about her plans for the building in the near future.

She bought the downtown vacancy about three years ago and had initially planned to move Acapulco Restaurant from North Henderson Street to downtown. That plan was subsequently shelved, but she has owned the building since.

Contractors were seen working on at least the roof of the building this spring.

Meanwhile, The Tap would be occupying a space that's been vacant for at least two years and was among several closed businesses targeted by burglars more than two years ago. No access was made to the former bar at that time.

Also expected to be discussed by Galesburg council Monday night is a plan for Trillium Dell to occupy the former National Guard Armory building, 149 N. Broad St. Council approved a feasibility study for Trillium Dell to look into occupying the space back in December 2018.

Rick Collins, Trillium Dell's owner, has previously told The Register-Mail he was seeking to use only the drill floor for assembly space. The company began as a small business that repurposed locally sourced timber and grew into a $6 million company that sources timber from the Pacific Northwest.

City administration recommends an agreement that would include Trillium upgrading the drill floor. That work would include building walls for the drill floor so a sprinkler system would not be needed, as the drill floor would become separated from the rest of the former Armory.

Wayne Carl, Galesburg director of planning and public works, said Trillium is planning on doing most of the improvement work on their own.

It is expected it would take Trillium three months to make improvements and then the company would enter into a four-year lease on the property with a monthly payment of $1,000.

The city administration recommends paying $14,000 to EA Architecture and Design Inc. for construction drawings for Trillium Dell and the city could spend up to another $5,000 for EA to coordinate with the state preservation agency on the work. That payment is recommended to be taken out of the city's economic development fund.

"The city has looked at possible uses over the years and this is one Trillium Dell had approached us about last year," Carl said of the Armory building.

"It's nice to at least get a portion of the building back in use and very excited to see a local employer utilize that space."

While Trillium will only use the floor space, the rest of the Armory, such as office spaces in the ancillary building, can still be a possibility for another tenant.

"We will continue to market that. It depends on the use and what code compliance is needed for that use," Carl said. "We'll have to take that case-by-case."